Alan W. Dowd is a Senior Fellow with the American Security Council Foundation, where he writes on the full range of topics relating to national defense, foreign policy and international security. Dowd’s commentaries and essays have appeared in Policy Review, Parameters, Military Officer, The American Legion Magazine, The Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations, The Claremont Review of Books, World Politics Review, The Wall Street Journal Europe, The Jerusalem Post, The Financial Times Deutschland, The Washington Times, The Baltimore Sun, The Washington Examiner, The Detroit News, The Sacramento Bee, The Vancouver Sun, The National Post, The Landing Zone, Current, The World & I, The American Enterprise, Fraser Forum, American Outlook, The American and the online editions of Weekly Standard, National Review and American Interest. Beyond his work in opinion journalism, Dowd has served as an adjunct professor and university lecturer; congressional aide; and administrator, researcher and writer at leading think tanks, including the Hudson Institute, Sagamore Institute and Fraser Institute. An award-winning writer, Dowd has been interviewed by Fox News Channel, Cox News Service, The Washington Times, The National Post, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and numerous radio programs across North America. In addition, his work has been quoted by and/or reprinted in The Guardian, CBS News, BBC News and the Council on Foreign Relations. Dowd holds degrees from Butler University and Indiana University. Follow him at twitter.com/alanwdowd.

ASCF News

Scott Tilley is a Senior Fellow at the American Security Council Foundation, where he writes the “Technical Power” column, focusing on the societal and national security implications of advanced technology in cybersecurity, space, and foreign relations.

He is an emeritus professor at the Florida Institute of Technology. Previously, he was with the University of California, Riverside, Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute, and IBM. His research and teaching were in the areas of computer science, software & systems engineering, educational technology, the design of communication, and business information systems.

He is president and founder of the Center for Technology & Society, president and co-founder of Big Data Florida, past president of INCOSE Space Coast, and a Space Coast Writers’ Guild Fellow.

He has authored over 150 academic papers and has published 28 books (technical and non-technical), most recently Systems Analysis & Design (Cengage, 2020), SPACE (Anthology Alliance, 2019), and Technical Justice (CTS Press, 2019). He wrote the “Technology Today” column for FLORIDA TODAY from 2010 to 2018.

He is a popular public speaker, having delivered numerous keynote presentations and “Tech Talks” for a general audience. Recent examples include the role of big data in the space program, a four-part series on machine learning, and a four-part series on fake news.

He holds a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Victoria (1995).

Contact him at stilley@cts.today.

U.S. Navy Successfully Tests High-energy Laser Weapon in Gulf of Aden

Thursday, December 16, 2021

Categories: ASCF News National Preparedness

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Source: https://www.breitbart.com/middle-east/2021/12/16/u-s-navy-successfully-tests-high-energy-laser-weapon-in-gulf-of-adan/

(UPI) — A U.S. Navy ship successfully fired a new, high-energy laser weapon on Tuesday, destroying a training target.

The USS Portland destroyed the static target in the Gulf of Aden as part of a demonstration.

The gulf separates East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.

The system was initially installed on the San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship in 2018, successfully destroyed an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) in 2020.

The Laser Weapons System Demonstrator (LWSD) is a “follow-on to the Laser Weapon System (LaWS) that afloat forward staging base USS Ponce tested for three years while operating in the Middle East,” according to a Navy release.

The LWSD is the Navy’s strongest laser weapon, five times more powerful than the 30-kilowatt LaWS, which is capable of downing small aircraft. Tuesday’s test-firing was not its first trial run.

The five-year-old ship is part of the Essex Amphibious Ready Group. The group departed Naval Base San Diego in August and began operating in the U.S. 5th Fleet region in September.

The Navy says the “region’s geography, climate, and strategic importance offer a unique environment for technology innovation.”

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